The present invention is a method for use in the transmission of radiographic images from a remote site where the patient has been CAT scanned or otherwise imaged, to the location where a diagnosing physician, such as a radiologist, is located. In such systems, the images are usually in the form of electronic files in graphic formats such as bitmap files, and are transmitted via telephone dial-up lines to the location of the diagnosing physician.
Such image transmissions are fairly slow, requiring on the order of 45 minutes to transfer an entire patient study. This is because the patient study will usually consist of a series of images made by taking a series of image "slices" through the patient; the image slices may be processed to provide different series with different degrees of contrast. There can also be image series taken across more than one axis of the body; for example, the skull may be imaged top to bottom, or side to side. Thus, a patient study will comprise a number of image series which each contain a significant number of images. As such, there is a large amount of pixel data, which can require a significant time to be transferred.
In conventional radiographic image transmission systems, the images are transmitted sequentially from beginning to end of the series. Typically the images series are arranged in the order of image capture, i.e. slices starting from top or bottom, or one side or the other, and progressing in order to the end of the series.